Life Goes On
by weddingonapostit
Summary: AU: Sequel to In Another Life. Starting three months after the birth of Meredith's first baby, who happens to be Finn's, Meredith and Derek must adjust to life as parents. How will they deal with Finn & Erin along with Finn's interfering mother? How will the Shepherds respond to a baby who is not biologically theirs? For Meredith and Derek, life goes on. Full synopsis inside.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: If you're new to this particular story, here's a summary of what happened in the prequel, In Another Life._

_Derek met Meredith when she was admitted to hospital to have a deadly brain tumour removed. He was struck by her instantly and found he couldn't get her off his mind, and struggled with his conscience throughout her stay in hospital, due to his marriage to Addison. Unbeknownst to him, she was feeling the same too, and when she woke up from surgery she said his name, causing Finn to become suspicious. Although nothing happened initially, they bonded one night when he stayed behind in hospital as she was alone. After she was allowed to leave hospital, Derek couldn't deny his feelings anymore and pursued her. They eventually slept together but decided it was a mistake as they were both in happy relationships - Derek with Addison, and Meredith with Finn. Or so they thought. Ignoring it seemed to be easier said than done when Meredith fell pregnant and finally decided it was Derek she wanted and not Finn. Giving him an ultimatum, Meredith hoped Derek would choose her as well, which, after some deliberation he finally did. They moved into Derek's trailer and Derek faced losing his job, but he chose to resign. Addison told him that she had seen the way he looked at Meredith and knew that he loved her. It then came out that Addison had in fact been having an affair with Mark behind Derek's back. As the months past, Meredith reached out to Finn and allowed him to be involved in the pregnancy, and he agreed that should the baby be Derek's, he would take a step back. Because of Meredith's medical history, Addison was assigned to be her OBGYN, which caused awkward moments for all involved. _

_During her first stay in hospital to have her tumour removed, Meredith struck up a friendship with Cristina Yang, and it was Cristina who partnered Meredith when it came time for her to give birth. Addison and Meredith made their peace with each other, and Derek and Mark re-bonded after finding out the baby was Finn's. After a heart-to-heart with his former best friend, Derek realised that he shouldn't run out on Meredith and revealed that he already loved the baby like his own. Meredith received a visit from Finn's parents who assumed she would be reuniting with Finn, but she set them straight, with Derek appearing to reveal he had taken time off work to spend time with Meredith and baby. Oh, and Finn got together with a woman called Erin, who is just a little too enthusiastic and forward for Meredith and Derek's liking._

**_Some plot amendments and character information: _**_Due to when I initially wrote the story, many years ago, I had Cristina as an intern and still with Burke, and the likes of Callie and Arizona did not appear. Life Goes On is going to update them so Cristina is a resident, Callie and Arizona are there and together (but no Sofia as Mark is with Addison), and Cristina is with Owen. _

_Meredith is not in the medical profession - she is currently unemployed but Life Goes On will explore that side of her further. Her family is her dad, Susan (Lexie's mom) and Lexie, who is not at SGMW either, but her profession was never revealed in IAL. It will all be revealed in due course. Ellis Grey died when Meredith was young, and was not a surgeon. _

_And I think that's everything, so I hope you enjoy :)_

* * *

The faint sound of crying was getting louder. It sounded so close, yet still so far away. And then suddenly, it stopped. Meredith opened her eyes with a start as the baby monitor she had been holding clattered to the ground. Sitting up, she blinked as her eyes readjusted to the light, and she rubbed the crick in her neck which had developed through falling asleep on the sofa. She had only closed her eyes for a few seconds, or so she thought.

"Four hours?!" she exclaimed suddenly, looking at her watch and standing up. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no…" she muttered to herself, as she headed into the hall and climbed the stairs two at a time, rushing into the nursery, but it was empty.

"Damn it," she exclaimed, this time stamping her foot in frustration. Sighing, she turned and tip-toed along the hall, turning the handle on their bedroom door slowly and carefully so as not to make too much sound. Inside she found Derek lying on the bed with baby Mollie peacefully laying on his chest, fast asleep. When he heard Meredith enter the room, he opened his eyes and raised a finger to his lips.

"I'm so sorry," Meredith whispered from the doorway, pulling an apologetic smile and biting her lip. Derek had been catching up with sleep after a particularly difficult 42 hour shift. She tip-toed across the room and picked up Mollie, who stirred, but did not wake. Meredith cradled her and walked across the room to put her in the Moses basket next to the bed, before crawling to lie beside Derek. She cuddled into him.

"I only closed my eyes for a few seconds," she said quietly. "Why don't you go and get into the bed in the spare room, and I'll stay awake, I promise."

"I'm awake now," Derek replied, kissing the top of Meredith's head and rubbing her back. "I may as well get up. What time is it anyway?"

"It's around nine," Meredith said, sitting up and stretching. "Do you want something to eat?"

Derek nodded. "I'm going to go and shower first, then I will meet you downstairs," he said, getting up and picking up a towel on his way to the door. Meredith returned to the nursery and picked up the baby monitor and placed it in her and Derek's room next to where Mollie was sleeping. When she got back downstairs she reassembled the one that had fallen apart after she dropped it while sleeping. While she was waiting for Derek to reappear, she went through to the kitchen and prepared two plates of food, bringing them out just as he arrived downstairs, and they both tucked in.

"Do you know what tomorrow is?" Derek asked, as he picked at the remains of his food.

"Mollie is three months," Meredith replied. "Oh, and it's Finn's birthday…"

"Funnily enough, that's not exactly what I was thinking of," Derek said, laughing. "Are you done with that?" he asked, pointing at her plate, and clearing it away when she nodded. "Come with me," he then said, taking her by the hand and leading her across the hall and into his study.

"What are we doing in here?" Meredith asked, confused. He very rarely used the study, and she was even less frequently in it. It was mainly used as a storage place for various medical books and files.

Derek had approached his desk and was rummaging around in a drawer for something. He eventually found whatever it was he was looking for and he returned to stand beside Meredith, smoothing out a piece of paper and handing it to her.

"What is this?" Meredith asked, examining the piece of paper and not seeing anything more than a picture of a brain, with various lines and dots around it.

"A year ago tomorrow, I returned to work after a vacation. My first patient was a woman, very annoying. She had a smile that tipped me over the edge.." he trailed off, hoping Meredith would realise what he was saying - and she did.

Realisation dawned over her face and she looked again at the piece of paper in her hand.

"It's a year since we met," she replied. "This is the picture you drew to explain my operation that night you stayed and talked to me, after Finn had a go. The night you apparently gave me the 'Derek Shepherd look of love'."

Derek nodded, and tucked a strand of Meredith's hair behind her ear, before wrapping his arms around her waist. "A whole year. I know we didn't start off in the most ideal fashion, and there have been some ups and downs along the way, but we got here - here we are."

"Here we are," Meredith repeated, leaning up to kiss him, the usual sensation shooting through her body. Kissing him now was as exciting kissing him all that time ago. She soon pulled away. "You know it's Finn's birthday tomorrow…"

Derek sighed. "You really know how to ruin a moment, Meredith Grey."

Meredith kissed him again and playfully placed a finger on his nose. "No, silly, I was going to say… it might be nice for Finn to spend some time with Mollie on his birthday," she continued. "So you and me could, you know, have some alone time to celebrate."

"And the moment is back," Derek replied, scooping Meredith into his arms and carrying her up the stairs. "I say we start celebrating now."

Meredith giggled as he opened the door to their bedroom and let it swing open. As it hit the wall on the other side, they both grimaced as Mollie stirred in her basket, both remembering at the same time that she was in there. She stayed asleep, however, and both Meredith and Derek breathed a sigh of relief, and Derek put Meredith back on her feet.

"I think the mood is well and truly gone now," Meredith laughed. "I'm sorry."

* * *

The next morning, the doorbell rang as Meredith was getting Mollie ready for the day ahead. Derek jogged down the stairs and noticed it was Finn and Erin. Taking a deep breath he opened the door.

"Finn, Erin, come in," he said, but not before Erin had already taken a step inside and was looking around the house from the hall. "Meredith is just upstairs getting Mollie ready."

"Great," Finn replied, clapping his hands together and rocking on his feet.

"This is such a nice house," Erin called from the living room, where she had wandered with no invitation. She soon returned holding a photograph of Meredith and Derek from the Shepherd family party. "This is so cute."

"Thanks," Derek replied, taking the photograph back and holding onto it. "Meredith!" he called up the stairs, not wanting to leave Finn and Erin alone downstairs.

Meredith soon appeared with Mollie in her arms and a changing bag swung over her shoulders.

"Everything you need is in the bag," Meredith said, as she handed Mollie and the bag over to Finn. "There are bottles in the bag, but she'll probably get hungry again around eight, so can you have her back by then please," she continued. "If she gets cranky sing to her, she loves singing. Oh, and…"

"We'll be fine," Finn said, heading towards the door. Meredith and Derek followed and both kissed Mollie on her cheek.

"Be a good girl," Meredith called as Finn disappeared down the driveway, and they stood waving until they had driven off.

"Were you talking to Mollie or Erin?" Derek asked, as Meredith closed the door. "She has no sense of personal space or privacy"

"Who, Mollie or Erin?" Meredith asked laughing, following Derek as he went to replace the photograph.

"Erin," he said. "She just waltzed in and started poking her nose around."

"Don't worry about her," Meredith replied. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Ah," Derek said, turning round, his eyes sparkly and a sly smile on his lips. "You'll have to wait and see - it's a surprise."

And with that, he kissed Meredith lightly on the forehead before disappearing out of the room and heading upstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

_Recap: Derek promised Meredith a surprise in order to celebrate a year of them meeting_

* * *

"Can I look yet?" Meredith asked as she took another tentative step forwards. As she did she raised a hand to her face, but it was quickly clasped firmly in Derek's and positioned back down by her side.

"In a minute…" he replied.

Back at the house Derek had presented Meredith with a blindfold and put her into the car. After driving a short distance, he had helped her get out of the car and led her on foot.

"Ok, we're here," Derek said as they suddenly came to a stop. He walked behind Meredith and started to untie the blindfold. "Happy anniversary of us first meeting," he whispered in her ear as he removed the blindfold and she took in her surroundings.

"The trailer…" Meredith exclaimed, trying to inject enthusiasm into her voice. They had lived in the trailer for a while after finally getting together, and being heavily pregnant at the time, it had not been the most comfortable of experiences.

"You're disappointed," Derek sighed. "You were expecting something different, something better."

"No," Meredith said. "The trailer is…"

Derek laughed and put his hands on her shoulders, gently turning her around. Meredith let out a gasp as she took in the sight in front of her - Derek had set up a picnic. Despite it being daylight, there were fairy lights draped over a tree, near which a table had been set up. On it were two champagne flutes and a bottle chilling in an ice bucket. There were two places set and a basket of food placed carefully at the edge.

"When did you do all this?" Meredith asked, approaching the table and taking a seat.

"I had a little help," Derek admitted as he sat down opposite her. "Drink?"

Meredith smiled and raised her eyebrows, lifting her glass towards the bottle Derek was holding. "Yes please," she said, taking a sip when it was full. She waited until Derek had filled his own glass and then raised her glass again. "To us."

"To us," Derek echoed as their glasses clinked together. "Now what would you like to eat?"

He opened the basket and presented Meredith with all of the options for food. When they were in the middle of eating, Meredith's phone rang. Thinking it might be something to do with Mollie, she removed it from her bag and looked at it.

"It's Lexie," Meredith said, setting her phone down. "She can call back later."

They finished the rest of the food and Meredith sat back, content in her seat.

"That was lovely," she said, reaching across the table to squeeze Derek's hand. "All of this was, thank you."

"You're welcome," Derek replied, lifting his glass and finishing the remainders of his drink.

Meredith's phone rang again and at the same time Derek's pager beeped. He looked up at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry, it's work," he said, starting to get ready. "I have to go. I'll drop you home on the way."

Meredith nodded. She knew the drill. There was nothing she could do and knew what she had been getting herself into, entering a relationship with a world class neurosurgeon. As they headed back towards the car, Meredith's phone rang for the third time.

"Lexie?" she said, as she pressed accept and lifted the phone to her ear. "Are you alright?"

"Meredith, thank god," Lexie said down the phone. Meredith heard a strange beeping in the background and other people's voices. "There's been an accident."

"Accident?!" Meredith squeaked back, as she got into the car.

"It's dad, he fell," Lexie replied. Meredith could hear that she was trying not to cry. "He hit his head - we're at Seattle Grace Mercy West. Can you come?"

"I'm on my way," Meredith said and then ended the call. She turned to look at Derek. "It looks like I'm coming with you to the hospital, dad has had an accident and hit his head."

Derek didn't respond, instead focusing on navigating his car down the narrow road from the trailer. He continued to stay silent as they pulled onto the main road and headed to the hospital. As they pulled into a space at the hospital, Meredith turned to look at Derek. She had worked it out almost as soon as they had left the trailer, but she wanted to be sure.

"It's him, isn't it?" she asked quietly. "The reason you've been paged in is because of my dad. It's bad, isn't it?"

Derek sighed and unfastened his seatbelt. "It might not be him Meredith," he replied after some consideration. "It could be anybody, but if it is," he continued. "You know he's in the best possible place with the best people looking after him."

Derek smiled encouragingly and got out of the car. He gave Meredith a kiss on the cheek before heading off to find out why he had been paged. Meredith had arranged to meet Lexie in the lobby. She quickly found her and was enveloped in a hug.

"I'm so pleased you're here," Lexie said. "Mom's with him now, and I came to wait for you."

"What happened?" Meredith asked, as Lexie indicated they should sit down.

Lexie shrugged in response. "I don't know, mom and I were out celebrating, he was supposed to come and join us, but he didn't. We went home and…there he was… on the floor…"

She raised a hand to her face as she recalled finding her dad lying on the floor next to stepladder, with blood seeping from his ear.

"Celebrating?" Meredith asked, trying to distract her sister from the obvious trauma the incident had caused her.

Lexie removed her hand from her face and wiped away a couple of tears. "Yeah, I got accepted for a surgical internship…" she trailed off.

A smile spread across Meredith's face. She'd known her sister had been applying for different internships. "Congratulations!" she reached across and hugged her. "Where is it?"

Lexie let out a little laugh as she pulled away from the hug. "Here," she said, raising her arms to indicate the building they were sitting in. "In two weeks I will be starting my surgical internship right here at Seattle Grace Mercy West."

"Oh Lexie…" Meredith replied, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Lexie made the decision for her when the corners of her lips started to twitch and she soon started to laugh.

"So, you know, I'll soon be working with your boyfriend, his ex wife, and her lover - thanks for making my life easy," Lexie joked, playfully hitting Meredith's arm. "Who's that?"

Lexie's eyes had focused on someone behind Meredith's shoulder. Meredith slowly turned around and smiled quickly as the man raised a hand to wave at her. She quickly turned back to Lexie.

"Mark Sloan," Meredith replied. "Stop looking!" she hissed as Lexie continued to look at him over her shoulder. "That is Derek's friend, the one who Addison cheated on him with - her lover as you called him!"

Lexie smiled across at Mark and then turned her attention back to Meredith. "I can see why…" she said absentmindedly. Meredith sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Meredith Grey…" a voice behind Meredith said causing her to jump. She turned around.

"Dr Bailey," Meredith replied standing up. "How are you?"

Bailey looked Meredith up and down before stopping to look at her, her face full of contempt. She had her arms crossed. "What are you doing back here? Not content with breaking up the marriage of a friend of mine, you decided to come back?"

Lexie looked between her sister and Dr Bailey, neither woman was saying a word.

"My dad… he's had an accident…" Meredith replied, looking to Lexie for support.

"He hit his head," Lexie said standing up.

Bailey turned her head and looked at Meredith's sister. "And you are?"

"Lexie Grey," she replied holding her hand out. Bailey ignored it. "Meredith's sister…" Lexie stretched her arm above her head and scratched her head as if the attempted hand shake had been part of the motion.

Bailey turned and walked away and Lexie hit Meredith on the arm again, this time harder.

"Anyone else you want to annoy to make my internship a living hell?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest. At that moment she noticed her mom walking across the hospital towards them. Both Meredith and Lexie stood up in anticipation.


	3. Chapter 3

Derek was caught in a trance as he washed his hands, looking at his patient through the window. His thoughts were interrupted as the door beside him opened and Rose, the scrub nurse came through.

"Dr Shepherd, we're ready for you," she said, beckoning through to the OR.

Derek rinsed his hands one more time and followed her through, gazing at his patient again as another nurse gloved him up, and placed his headset on his head. His intern was waiting patiently for him by the patient's head, and was looking at him expectantly.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Scalpel," he said as he held his hand out and took the instrument in his hand. He clenched his grip around it and hesitated before making the first cut.

"It's a beautiful day to saving lives," he muttered, unenthusiastically. He heard nurses murmuring to each other and saw them giving looks. Rose was nudged forward by the others and peered closely at Derek.

"Dr Shepherd, are you ok?" she asked, looking at the top-class neurosurgeon who had a look of concern etched across his face. He merely nodded in response and used the scalpel to start the surgery.

* * *

"It's funny," Meredith said, breaking the silence. She was rolling a polystyrene cup between her hands and looking at it thoughtfully. She absentmindedly started pulling bits off it as Susan and Lexie looked up at her with quizzical looks on their faces. "When something bad happens, why is it always someone's first thought to offer tea or coffee? As if that makes up for the badness…"

Susan cast an embarrassed glance behind her to make sure that the nurse who had brought the three of them coffee was not listening.

"That's true," Lexie replied, draining the remains of her drink and setting the cup on the table in front of her. "'Your dad's having brain surgery, here's a cup of coffee.'" She glanced in the direction of where Thatcher was. "I wonder how long his surgery will take."

"As long as it takes," Meredith replied looking at her watch. It was six pm - four hours since she and Derek had arrived at the hospital. Susan had told her and Lexie how Derek had explained there was a bleed on Thatcher's brain and that he needed immediate surgery to stop it. And that was that, the last any of them had seen of Thatcher, or Derek, as they had disappeared into an OR. "Derek's an excellent surgeon, dad will be fine."

"Oh Meredith honey, we have no doubt about his abilities," Susan replied, leaning across to squeeze her step-daughter's hand. "He gave us you back. I know he'll do his best for Thatcher too."

Meredith squeezed back. She loved Susan, but having lost her mom already, she couldn't face the thought of losing her dad as well. And Lexie was just about to embark on the biggest journey of her life so far, her surgical internship. She didn't deserve to have this weighing her down when she was so close to that. Thatcher didn't deserve to die - yes, he had had a problem with alcohol but he had worked so hard to get over that and make himself better for Susan's sake, for Meredith's sake and most of all for Lexie's sake. And now his life was in Derek's hands.

* * *

"Suction," Derek said, indicating the bleeder in Thatcher's brain to his intern. As he did, he looked up at the monitor - something wasn't right. Before he could do anything, the all familiar sound of frantic beeping filled the OR. The intern took a step backward.

"He's crashing," Derek was calm as he stated the obvious. "What's going on?"

"Um.. Dr Shepherd," Derek's intern said, raising a hand. Derek was too busy looking at Dr Warren to hear him, who was reading a chart.

"Dr Shepherd!" the intern cleared his throat and spoke louder. "The patient is waking up…"

"Dr Warren?!" Derek exclaimed, looking to the anaesthetist.

"I don't know what's going on," Ben replied, shaking his head. "He's fully dosed up, I don't understand."

He administered more anaesthetic and Thatcher's pressure started to return to normal.

"Let's continue," Derek said calmly. "And please, for goodness sake, do not let me be responsible for killing my girlfriend's dad!"

* * *

An hour and a half later, Meredith was pacing around the waiting area, looking at her watch and biting her thumb.

"I have to go, I need to get back for Mollie," she said as she stopped and looked at both Susan and Lexie. "I'm really sorry, but I need a lift…"

Lexie immediately stood to action. "I'll drive you," she responded, turning to look at Susan. "Will you be ok mom?"

Susan nodded. "I'll phone you the minute I have any information". At that moment she noticed Derek approach the group, removing his scrub cap from his head and twisting it in his hands. "Or maybe I won't have to."

Both Lexie and Meredith turned around and looked expectantly at Derek. He avoided both of their gazes and approached Susan.

"We managed to stop the bleed," he said. "He's currently in recovery, but we have put him in an induced coma and won't know completely how he is until he wakes up. But the main thing is, he's stable."

"Oh Derek," Susan said, throwing her arms around Derek's neck. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Derek rubbed Susan's back and then pulled away. "He won't be awake until tomorrow, so if you want to go home, pick up a few bits… I will let you know if there is any change in his condition."

Meredith had been watching Derek the whole time he had been talking. While he had addressed both Susan and Lexie, he had avoided her. She felt like he wasn't telling them the whole story. Susan and Lexie, however, seemed oblivious to it.

"We are so blessed to have you in our family," Susan replied sincerely, grasping Derek's hands in hers. "First you gave Meredith her life back, and now you saved our Thatcher."

"I was just doing my job," Derek said, still avoiding Meredith.

"Can we see him before we go?" Susan asked, looking expectantly at Derek. He nodded and sent them off with his intern. Finally, he looked at Meredith and took her arm, leading her to sit down in the waiting area. He reached into his pocket and handed her his bunch of keys.

"I'll meet you at home later," he said, kissing her lightly and roughly on the cheek. "I have some things to do here."

"Is my dad really ok?" Meredith asked, still getting an uneasy feeling from the way Derek was talking.

He rubbed her arm reassuringly and squeezed it. "He's fine. I'll see you later," and with that he walked off leaving Meredith clutching the keys and watching him thoughtfully.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Derek was by Thatcher's bed as he started to stir. When he opened his eyes he took a couple of glances around the room before looking up at Derek.

"What happened?" Thatcher asked groggily, raising a hand to his head and screwing his face up in discomfort.

Derek finished up writing in his chart. "You had a nasty fall," he replied, setting the chart down and leaning on the end of the bed. "You hit your head and caused a brain bleed, but I managed to get it under control so you're going to be fine."

Thatcher merely nodded and didn't reply. Derek stared pensively at the man in the bed before straightening up and moving to sit in the chair beside his bed.

"Mr Grey…" he started but stopped when Thatcher raised his hand.

"Please, call me Thatcher," he said meekly, smiling at Derek. "You're part of the family now."

"Thatcher…" Derek started again, rubbing his hands together and leaning forwards. "When did you start drinking again?"

Thatcher's eyes widened and he shook his head. "I didn't, I haven't had a drink in years!" he exclaimed, continuing to shake his head.

"Thatcher, we found a vast amount of alcohol in your system during surgery," Derek replied, smiling solemnly. "It reacted with the anaesthesia and you nearly woke up. That could have been fatal."

Thatcher's face fell and his eyes filled with despair. "Do the others know? You didn't tell them did you?"

Derek shook his head and remained silent, offering Thatcher the chance to talk.

Realising he had been caught out, Thatcher reluctantly started to explain. "It started last year, when Meredith was diagnosed with that tumour. It was just one drink… I thought I was going to lose her. But one drink turned into two drinks and then I couldn't stop. I somehow managed to keep it secret, well up until now…" Thatcher trailed off. "I was trying to get to my secret stash, you know, when I fell…"

"You need to tell Susan, Meredith and Lexie," Derek replied. "You need help. If you got over it once, you can do it again."

"Can you… Can you help me tell them Derek?" Thatcher asked.

Derek stood up and took his phone from his pocket and dialled.

"Meredith? It's me. Your dad's awake, can you bring Susan and Lexie to the hospital?" he spoke into the phone and then hung up. "They'll be here soon, we'll tell them together."

* * *

An hour later, after the three women had arrived and Susan had finally let go of Thatcher, Derek once again entered the room. Susan had initially been relieved to see Thatcher, but once she had hugged him and kissed him and told him she loved him, she had berated him for being so clumsy, and for causing them so much worry. Meredith had had to bring Mollie, but she was asleep in her car-seat in the corner of the room.

"How is he?" Susan asked Derek.

"Well, as you can tell, he hasn't reacted badly to the surgery, the bleed caused no damage," Derek spoke slowly and carefully. "But, there is something Thatcher would like to tell you."

Thatcher momentarily looked shocked as he hadn't been expecting his moment to arrive quite so abruptly. Susan, Lexie and Meredith all turned to look at him expectantly.

"I… well you see the thing is… after…well…" he muttered, failing to get a full sentence out. "I've been… well I have… I am.."

Derek stepped forward and interjected. "What Thatcher is trying to tell you is that he has been drinking again. That's why he fell."

"Oh Thatcher," Susan exclaimed, furious tears filling her eyes. "How could you?! After all you put us through before with your drink."

"As Thatcher's doctor, may I request that there's no shouting," Derek said, stepping in to diffuse the situation. "He's just had surgery on his brain."

In the corner Mollie stirred and started to cry. Meredith moved towards her but Derek got there first and he lifted her, indicating that Meredith should stay and talk to her dad. He made a quick exit from the room, but not before hearing Susan tell Thatcher he deserved to be in that bed.

Derek placed Mollie on his shoulder and gently rocked her until she fell back to sleep. He continued bouncing gently as he walked along the corridor, looking for an empty on-call room.

"Oh she's beautiful," a voice piped up behind him, and he smiled as he turned round to face her.

"She is isn't she?" he replied.

Dr April Kepner ran a gentle hand over Mollie's head and cooed at her, despite Mollie's eyes being firmly shut and her breathing implying she was fast asleep.

"Dr Kepner," a voice interrupted the moment and April stood up straight and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Dr Bailey…" she replied, running off down the corridor. Bailey stood and looked at Derek momentarily before walking off. She had been decidedly frosty towards Derek since he had returned from his month off. He didn't blame her, she was friends with Addison, but he did wish she could at least talk to him. It made consults particularly tricky when she glared at him and did little to provide him with information he might need.

Derek found an on-call room and tapped on the door. When he got no response, he used his free hand to open the door and let it swing open, instantly regretting it.

"DEREK!" Addison's voice called in shock as she clambered to cover herself with the bed sheet. Mark rolled over calmly.

"Good grief Mark, cover yourself up," Derek said, looking at the ceiling. On his shoulder Mollie started to grizzle, indicating that she was waking up.

"Do you think I could maybe have this room?" Derek asked, still not looking directly at Mark and Addison. "I need somewhere to settle her… Meredith's a bit busy."

"Is she alright?" Mark asked as he pulled his scrubs back on.

"Meredith? She's fine," Derek replied. "Just some family stuff to deal with."

Addison hurried past Derek without saying a word while Mark hung back.

"So… how are you?" Mark asked, leaning against the bed with his arms folded. He was showing no signs of leaving.

"Mark… I just walked in on you and Addison… in the throws of passion… in the hospital. I don't want to engage in idle chit chat," Derek replied, removing his white coat and placing it over the bed, wrinkling his nose as he did. He saw Mark watching him quizzically. "I don't want Mollie lying in your filth. This little girl deserves better than that," he said, placing Mollie gently down on his coat and lying down behind her with his arm on his head so he could watch her.

"Well, if you ever want to talk, you know where I am," Mark replied, finally leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that," Derek said softly to Mollie, smiling as she closed her hand around his finger, smiling up at him. "Really sorry. No-one should have to see Mark with no clothes on unless they really wanted to."

Mollie chose that stage to blow a raspberry and Derek laughed. "Yes, my thoughts exactly."


End file.
